Stories Collected While Living in France

French la Vie

Where to Have Chocolate in Paris

 

 

Chocolate, in France they say, "Chocolat", 

drop the e, and say, "SHOW CO LA"

which I like to think as a short cut in hip hop talk for,

"Show the Chocolate!"

 

 

Chocolate-oyster-form
(Photo of a French antique chocolate oyster mold)

 

I wish I could say I wrote this article, and took these photos, but since I did not I must lead you to HIP PARIS BLOG for a fanastic report on Chocolates in Paris. Please click on this link to lick the screen while scribbling the addresses down. Your tastebuds, nor eyes will regret it… but your thighs that is another thing.

Then continue reading below… my humble scribblings on the lush world of chocolate.

 

Chocolat noir

 

photo source La Maison du Chocolat

 

La Maison du Chocolat, The House of Chocolate, is my favorite. The chocolate is sublime, not one taste or texture out powering the other. Delicate with perfect pitch, yes musical, it literally sings with ones tastebuds. 

 

 

maison_du_chocolat

photo source Station Gourmande

And their box tied with a brown ribbon. Utterly opposite of Laduree pretty in pastel, but my favorite nevertheless. I can recall in great detail the first time I went into Maison du Chocolat and bit into Cannelle: An infused cinnamon ganache. I literally could not move, my only thought was, "Wow, have I been missing out! Now this is chocolate." I bought a small box to take home to French Husband. But when I arrived home my sweet giving thoughts turned into, racing back to the grocery store, buying a couple of tablettes (chocolate bars), wrapping them with a bow and hiding my newly discovered treasure. It was all I could do not to act on those thoughts.

 

 

A-bite-of-chocolate

 

Do you have a favorite chocolate recipe to share?

Chocolate and Zucchini sure has more than a few to share, check out Clotilde Dusoulier, a young delightful Parisian foodie, whos word for word food blog is a savory and sweet delicious mouthful. Clotilde, also has several wonderful cookbooks. Her first was entitled: Daily Adventures in a Parisian Kitchen. 

 

 

Chocolate trail
photo Source Colossal

 

Chocolate Walks through Paris

Oh yeah.

That is the trick. Walk the talk. Enjoy the walk, talk with your mouthful, and lose the calories while you inhale the chocolates throughout Paris. Brilliant, sin without punishment! 

 

Chocolat
(Photo of a piece of chocolate wonder)

The random winners of a bar of Chocolate are:

Beatenheart

Cara

Cathy

Frank Levin

Marilyn 

Dawn Flemings

Please send me your address to my email and I will send off your gift.

 

 

chef givre checking his refractometer chocolate

photo source The Sweet Life, David Lebovitz

 

Courses in chocolate making, tasting, creating… Valrhona

But if you are not an expert in chocolate making with a name that speaks like a key and opens doors, Valrhona might not be the place for you. 

If you are like me, a place like this might be more um user friendly… then check this one

Cook'n with Class, not just chocolate but everything in between and on the sides.

 

Love's way Crystal

 

Tomorrow's giveaway… an antique crystal with a religious or romantic image on it. No two are alike, but they follow the look of the crystal above.

If you would like to win, add a comment and tell me:

If you could meet one person past or present, who would that person be and why?

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

62 responses to “Where to Have Chocolate in Paris”

  1. Meg Mitchell

    I am heading back to Paris in May and will definitely try some of these suggestions. The best thing about your blog Corey are your photographs. The ones that you shoot are just gorgeous. Just thought I’d pass that along.
    Meg

    Reply
  2. Tongue in Cheek

    Thank you Meg. I appreciate it that! But lately all that has been going on with our friend and now with this darn flu I find it harder and harder to get out and take photos myself. Thank you for noticing and encouraging me to follow my passion, even when it is hard to do right now.
    C

    Reply
  3. Susan

    There are many famous people, celebrities and the rich but my choice as I have mentioned to my husband previously are my FB friend from around the globe, Corey you being right there at the top.

    Reply
  4. momof5

    I would say Voltaire and Victor Hugo: authors of my two favorite books, Candide and Le Miserable. I love the way they both wrote of the human condition and wonder what they would say about society today.

    Reply
  5. Patty Van Dorin

    I would like to meet Neil Diamond while standing in line for a hot dog at Costco. I have heard He is a fan of Costco hot dogs just like me.

    Reply
  6. Bev S.

    This is a question that we often ask in our new members class. For a long time I would say an important person–St. Paul, Mary Magdalene, C.S. Lewis but now, I’d like to meet my great-great grandmother who was born, lived and died in Skaerbaek Denmark.
    She and my great-grandfather (his mom) had some disagreements and he left for the U.S. with his older brother. There he also disagreed with that brother and took off to the West, always claiming to be an orphan to his family until he was in his 80s. His mother tried in vain for years to track him down, even contacting the Salvation Army with hopes of finding him, which she never did. It was only in my great-grandfather’s old age and the visit by my grandparents, parents and myself to Denmark that we pieced together the story. At any rate I would love to meet her.

    Reply
  7. martina

    Thomas Jefferson. He had an inquisitive mind that was interested in many subjects. Besides, any person who allegedly introduced ice cream and French fries to America has to be all right!

    Reply
  8. Anjanette

    hmmmmm?? I’d like to meet Teddy Roosevelt and ask him what he thinks about the environmental movement today and how we find balance among all interests; given he is the President who started the National Park System and signed the Antiquities Act (thought you’d like that!).
    Interesting questions you are posting Corey…fun fun fun

    Reply
  9. Linda

    Yes, Facebook and blogger friends world-wide.
    Feel better, Corey.

    Reply
  10. Vicki

    Corey, I share your love of La Maison du Chocolat and my favorite is their chocolate dipped nougat. They never make it home to Portland. I make a deconstructed Black Forest Cake. Bake espresso infused chocolate cake in a muffin top pan. Poach either sour cherries or sweet black cherries in a little kirsch until cherry juice and kirsch have thickened a little, about 20-30 min. Serve with Ben and Jerry Cherry Garcia ice cream and fresh whipped cream. Let your guests put the pieces together however they wish. I would love to share a meal with Julia Childs and James Beard who have had such an influence on our cuisine…and maybe add Alice Waters and Thomas Keller, who continue to carry the torch.

    Reply
  11. Debra

    Charlemagne, a Medici, Leonardo, Dante, Mary. . . . .Jesus . . . Geez, I could go on and on. My grandmother, who I lost when I was a teenager too young to appreciate. She was something, Corey, you would have loved her . . .ran our family farm in Virginia all by herself after my grandfather’s death. What I wouldn’t give for one day with her (she raised 5 boys, her only daughter was a twin and died at birth).
    Hope you both are feeling better.

    Reply
  12. Diogenes

    Mahatma Ghandi, architect of peace.
    “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”

    Reply
  13. Joan

    I would like to meet my paternal grandfather again and ask him all the questions I now know I should have asked when I was younger and he was alive! He came from Norway at about age 18. I know so little about his life in Norway and his years raising his family.

    Reply
  14. jody

    I hope this does not sound arrogant. i want to meet Jesus. i would like to understand about loving the not very lovable neighbor of mankind and giving your life cheerfully and willingly for all. xo jody

    Reply
  15. jody

    Corey, may your flu disappear as quickly as it came. much love and health to you! xo jody

    Reply
  16. Ann

    I would like to meet and acknowledge with gratitude all the unknown women,past and present, who have toiled for the human rights of women. Until all women have freedom, there is much work to do. What wonders could be achieved if half the world’s population had its potential unleashed?

    Reply
  17. Jamie V

    I would like to meet my maternal great grandmother. When my grandmother was 4 and her sister, 2, they were ‘kidnapped’ by their father and taken from St Paul, MN to Chico, CA. My grandmother never saw her mom again until she was in her 40’s! No one ever bothered to ask what happened or why and now that information is gone forever! This is a missing part of my family history that I’d love to know! Jamie V in MT
    http://rem-nants.blogspot.com

    Reply
  18. Nancy in Solana Beach

    I would love to meet Carol, my sister, who passed away 6 months before I was born. She died from the measles. Both of us were born before the measles vaccine. We were so close in age that it would have been fun growing up together.

    Reply
  19. Kathie B

    Favorite chocolate recipe? Why, my own truffles (recipes for both Dark Chocolate Truffles (Trufas de Chocolate Preto) and White Chocolate Truffles (Trufas de Chocolate Brancoo) online in both English and Portuguese:
    http://www.inolongerlikechocolates.com/truffles.htm
    BTW, notwithstanding the novel’s title, the author (as well as both translators) love chocolate!!!
    Whom would I like to meet from history? My great-grandfather, born in the Azores and a mariner for 15 years before settling in Northern California. I’m told that in retirement he loved to sit on the front porch and regale his grandchildren (including my dad) who lived next door with stories of his seafaring adventures. I’d also like to ask him the many questions I have about our family’s genealogy.

    Reply
  20. Kathie B

    Typo correction: Trufas de Chocolate Branco

    Reply
  21. diane – florida

    I would like to throw back a vin or two with Jesus. It would clear up a great deal of uncertainties I am experiencing. I would solicite definative answers regarding many current social issues and shove them up the asses of the Christian right.

    Reply
  22. Patti Lloyd

    I think I would like to meet Ram Daas. It would be such a spiritual experience, I imagine. I would hope that some of his grace and acceptance would rub off on me, but more than that I would just love to meet this unlikely person that delivers messages of love, service and self acceptance that resonate so well with my soul.

    Reply
  23. Jann

    I would like to meet Adam and Eve, and listen to them tell the story of their lives, and also Noah, and find out what animals were on that ark, and hear him tell his story….now, that would be fascinating!!!
    Jann

    Reply
  24. Laurie SF

    In the south of France, with Picasso on a holiday, 1937.

    Reply
  25. Evelyn

    Whom would I like to meet? Eleanor of Aquitaine. I’ve just finished a biography of her, ‘April Queen.’ She was pretty amazing.Both she and her children influenced a lot of Europe’s history. And after a quick trip thru Ancestry. com, I found that I am VERY distantly related to her!

    Reply
  26. Jeannie

    I would love to meet your Annie. She is my kind of person and reminds me so much of my Gram. Some others are: I would like to meet my internet sister, Melanie. She lives in Brooklyn, I live in Richland – 3000 miles apart. I would also like to visit with my Great Grandmothers. They both came to the US when first married. One from Norway, one from England. I want to hear the stories they told of their childhoods one more time. Then Georgia Okeefe. I love her art, her spunk, and her independence. Lastly, I’d love to fly to France and meet you!

    Reply
  27. pattwolverton71@comcast.net

    I would like to cook with Julia Childs for Winston Churchill and Ronald Regan. What dinner conversation that would be. AND the food would be good.

    Reply
  28. Lucy

    Those pictures made my mouth water!
    I would love to meet the Dali Lama, such a fascinating man!
    Regards Lucy from Oz

    Reply
  29. labergerebasque

    My all time favorite chocolate in the world is Henriet de Biarritz. A family recipe passed down through the middle ages 🙂

    Reply
  30. France Forever 24/7

    LOVE chocolat – the real thing and the movie!

    Reply
  31. Merisi in Vienna

    Chocolat in the morning ….. show me who can resist!
    I would love to meet Richard III, and deliver that horse so that he would live and have heirs and there would be no Tudor kings. No Henry VIII. Imagine all those women saved …. 😉

    Reply
  32. Merisi in Vienna

    Corey, I understand your dilemma! I hope you and Yann get well soon, and your friend too.
    I was thinking of doing some Venice posts, tomorrow through Tuesday. It’s carnival, after all. How about you joining me? We shot so many pictures last year!
    Hugs,
    M.

    Reply
  33. Katie

    Who would I like to meet? It has been the same answer ever since I was little. I was three years old when Princess Diana passed away. Of course, I was not old enough to understand, but as I got older (around 9-10), I did a report on her for a project. After that, I have always wanted to meet her. I am sure everyone would say that she was compassionate, sensitive and understood sufferings well. She was/is a beautiful woman, and someone I honestly look up to. I always wonder what it would be like to see her in front of me, and not in a book, or on the television. I am always going to wonder. She loved her children, and that reminds me of my mother. So I could only imagine. She really was a princess, an angel even. I do not know what I would ask her, but even having her sit at a table with me… I would feel so honoured.

    Reply
  34. Barb

    I would love to meet your drop dead gorgeous French Husband. It would belike a novel…hearing the french husband speak, enjoying a glass of wine with him and sitting ata little or sitting at a littlesidewalk care enjoying an espeesso and chocolate!

    Reply
  35. Barb

    Oops. Sitting at a little sidewalk cafe sipping an espresso.

    Reply
  36. George in Brooklyn

    If I could meet someone, it would be my Papou (grandfather) who passed away in 1945 – long before I was born. He was a high school teacher and loved to play the violin. Living in a small village in northern Greece and without a lot of money, he raised eight children. My father and his siblings are a reflection of the wonderful man he was.

    Reply
  37. Dawn Fleming

    There are so many people to choose from past and present that I would like to meet. The person who caught my attention and convinced me to announce to my parents that I want to play the piano is Elton John. I first heard Crocodile Rock on a 45 record that my friend played over and over when I was 7. Then when I saw him on TV, wow! He had so much energy and cool costumes & glasses in my young eyes. Then when I saw his fingers move and all the chords he was playing I told my parents “I want to play the piano like Elton John”. Finally when I was 9 my dad got me a used piano and I have been playing ever since.

    Reply
  38. Lauren

    Cleopatra! What an interesting story!

    Reply
  39. Georgane Sullivan

    Corey, I would love to meet Julia Child. I just read her biography titled Dearie. I think she and I could have been friends. She was the kind of friend I gravitate to when I meet people. Of course, she liked french cooking, as do I, and Southern California.

    Reply
  40. Denise from CT

    My mother above all others. She died when I was 23 and never had the chance to see her three wonderful grandsons. I would spend the time sharing all my wonderful memories with her and to let her know how much I have missed her in my life here on earth. I’d also like to know who all those people are in the old photos that have been passed down to me. It’s a mystery I’m trying to solve.

    Reply
  41. Patricia

    I read many great suggestions above. My first thought was you. My second thought was Jane Austen. Her observations on society were quite evolved for a young woman, and many were “tongue in cheek”!
    My third thought was Abraham Lincoln. I’m a Lincoln descendant, so it’s as much from a geneological point of view as historical.
    Get well, soon! Watching “Chocolat” is one of my favorite ways to recover.
    Patricia

    Reply
  42. Judith-Texas

    #1 wish would be to see/meet my beautiful Mamma again; she passed away almost 12 years ago. My regret is I did not ask enough questions to get answers re family history/pictures, her real feelings and thoughts (I thought I knew but now I question myself). I still ache over her absence.
    #2 Tasha Tudor, author and illustrator – why? because she had the courage to live her life exactly as she wanted; living in an era she loved and surrounding herself with beauty (her garden). I would love to sit down under her apple tree and share a cup of tea with her and her beloved Corgis; maybe having some homemade ice cream made from her own Nubian’s goat milk.
    If I were very lucky, she might allow me to try on one of her vintage Victorian dresses.

    Reply
  43. Nancy in Solana Beach

    Corey
    I hope that you and the French Husband are feeling better.
    Since we are discussing chocolate, is there anyone who has a dynamite recipe for Brownies? I just cannot seem to find the right one. You don’t have to type it out here. If you know a site that has one listed, just let me know. Thanks a million!!!

    Reply
  44. Brian Harrison

    Hello Corey,
    My Daughter and I are sitting looking at all the chocolate and we are salivating! Thank you so much for posting this. We are coming to Paris this summer and this will certainly help us on our way to the chocolate dream!! According to my daughter, Monet, you live in heaven!!!!!
    Wendy & Monet Harrison

    Reply
  45. Marilyn

    How exciting, I won a chocolat. I will email you. The last time we were in Paris we took one of the chocolat walking tours. It was such a treat. Receiving a bar of chocolat will bring back those memories. Your post was oh so sweet.

    Reply
  46. Charland

    I am torn between re-meeting my grandmothers and of course, asking the right questions of them or meeting Mary, Queen of Scots. She has always fascintated me. Her training in France should have made her a better queen than Elizabeth I. I would like to know what she was really like.

    Reply
  47. Lisa DeNunzio, La Dolce Villa

    Would love to meet Colette. She had such a zest for life. Loved good books, food, and the garden She was so ahead of her time first writing with her husband Wily and later liberating herself from him and writing under her own name. She was a pioneer in many ways as she also had a career on the stage as well as a business where she sold skin products and make up. Come to think of it I would also like to meet her mother, Sido, of whom Coleete wrote a book. (My Mother’s House), It is always fun to see where the inspiration originated.

    Reply
  48. Ann

    I would love to meet my grandparents on my mom’s side. They both passed away before I was born. My mother has one picture of them that I adore. I know that my grandmother and I would have been very close at heart.
    There are too many people from history that I would want to meet, but I narrowed the list to family. Maybe next time you can separate it by category like the famous, the politician, family, etc.

    Reply
  49. Dottie

    I think I would like to meet the Dalai Lama, Jesus, Mary the list goes on. Why? Because I would like to have the experience of being in the presence of someone who is fully in the moment, fully accepting and filled with love. What an amazing experience and a way of being I would like emulate.

    Reply
  50. judi prechtel

    My Mother as she passed when I was five. I wonder what she was like??? Do I do things like her? Does she laugh like I do? So many questions….. jp

    Reply
  51. judi prechtel

    I would love to meet my Mother.. What was she like.. Am I like her??

    Reply
  52. Chris Wittmann

    That question is very very difficult to answer, as I have grandmother who died before I was born, and numerous other people I would love to have met, but I am going to narrow it down to one whom I think would be the most awesome person in the world to meet, and history certainly will bear this out. That person would be George Washington.

    Reply
  53. Chris Wittmann

    Forgot to say that my reason for wanting to meet George Washington is quite simply that he endured so much, gave so much, and was such a brilliant and God fearing man, and because he gave Americans such an incredible country, incredible freedom, and incredible Republic…”if we can keep it.”

    Reply
  54. Erika R.

    Today, my answer to that question is President Abe Lincoln. I watched the movie ‘Lincoln’ last night and couldn’t take my eyes off the screen. So many things I would like to talk to him about. To see what he saw so maybe to understand what drove him to making the 13th amendment. To talk to him about all the lives lost in our civil war and how he dealt with that knowledge. An intriguing movie about an intriguing man.

    Reply
  55. Brenda L. from TN.

    There are SO many people I would love to meet…same as many on here…Jesus, Mary, many famous people…but mainly I would like to meet my maternal and paternal great-grandmothers and thank them for raising such kind,warm and loving daughters who became my grandmothers…I want to thank them for two wonderful role models who showed everyone they knew kindness and sweet christian ideals. I will meet them one day but if I could, I’d like to meet them now.

    Reply
  56. Jill Flory

    Jesus – I want to meet Jesus in person! So happy that someday I will!
    And someday I’d like to eat Chocolat in Paris!

    Reply
  57. Claire

    Marie Antoinette, the last queen of France. I would like to know how she felt about her life and times.

    Reply
  58. Kathie B

    ANY brownie recipe is improved by mixing in a bag of chocolate chips!

    Reply
  59. Heather

    Jesus….
    He is the reason for us all, without him, there would be no hope. His mercy and grace are new every day, thankfully!! I would ask him how the heck he puts up with me! =)

    Reply
  60. Nancy in Solana Beach

    Kathie B,
    Thanks for your suggestion! I found the Chocolate-pear brownie recipe on this site, So I am all set.

    Reply
  61. mundenliana@hotmail.com

    Oh, I would love to meet my great grandparents who lived in Italy, but know absolutely nothing about. My Italian grandparents who were from Boston, did not talk about Italy at all and I was too young to think about asking. I do remember the one time my grandmother came to visit us in California, she spent all day in the kitchen cooking and made her own pasta noodles which she rolled out with a metal wire coat hanger and hung to dry. I never understood her much and would now of course love to know more.

    Reply
  62. Robin

    My First Kiss.
    He was from the opposite team. The “public school” team. I felt him enter the room more than saw him. Still, I couldn’t take my eyes off him. A few weeks later, at a school dance, a warm hand touched my shoulder, I turned. Would you like to dance?
    The chaperone broke us up. You’re dancing too close. His cheek brushed mine, warm, soft lips. The chaperone took a fit. I couldn’t see this boy, my parents forbid it. He was not Portuguese, he wasn’t even white. We’ve danced this way ever since through marriages, children, divorces. Years later, we hugged, his cheek brushed mine. His lips still soft and warm. My first kiss, again. It was as lovely as I had remembered.

    Reply

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